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Ornament and Crime
Revolutionary essays on design, aesthetics and materialism - from one of the great masters of modern architecture
Adolf Loos, the great Viennese pioneer of modern architecture, was a hater of the fake, the fussy and the lavishly decorated, and a lover of stripped down, clean simplicity. He was also a writer of effervescent, caustic wit, as shown in this selection of essays on all aspects of design and aesthetics, from cities to glassware, furniture to footwear, architectural training to why 'the lack of ornament is a sign of intellectual power'.
Translated by Shaun Whiteside
With an epilogue by Joseph Masheck
312 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 1997
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2118 people want to read
About the author
Adolf Loos
34 books37 followersAdolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos was an Austrian architect. He was influential in European Modern architecture, and in his essay Ornament and Crime he abandoned the aesthetic principles of the Vienna Secession. In this and many other essays he contributed to the elaboration of a body of theory and criticism of Modernism in architecture.
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Loos authored several polemical works. In Spoken into the Void, published in 1900, Loos attacked the Vienna Secession, at a time when the movement was at its height.
In his essays, Loos used provocative catchphrases and has become noted for one particular essay/manifesto entitled Ornament and Crime, spoken first in 1910.In this essay, he explored the idea that the progress of culture is associated with the deletion of ornament from everyday objects, and that it was therefore a crime to force craftsmen or builders to waste their time on ornamentation that served to hasten the time when an object would become obsolete. Loos' stripped-down buildings influenced the minimal massing of modern architecture, and stirred controversy. Perhaps surprisingly, some of Loos's own architectural work was elaborately decorated, although more often inside than outside, and the ornamented interiors frequently featured abstract planes and shapes composed of richly figured materials, such as marble and exotic woods. The visual distinction is not between complicated and simple, but between "organic" and superfluous decoration.
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Loos authored several polemical works. In Spoken into the Void, published in 1900, Loos attacked the Vienna Secession, at a time when the movement was at its height.
In his essays, Loos used provocative catchphrases and has become noted for one particular essay/manifesto entitled Ornament and Crime, spoken first in 1910.In this essay, he explored the idea that the progress of culture is associated with the deletion of ornament from everyday objects, and that it was therefore a crime to force craftsmen or builders to waste their time on ornamentation that served to hasten the time when an object would become obsolete. Loos' stripped-down buildings influenced the minimal massing of modern architecture, and stirred controversy. Perhaps surprisingly, some of Loos's own architectural work was elaborately decorated, although more often inside than outside, and the ornamented interiors frequently featured abstract planes and shapes composed of richly figured materials, such as marble and exotic woods. The visual distinction is not between complicated and simple, but between "organic" and superfluous decoration.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
April 2, 2013
I am not a fan of Loos, like, at all. I think he takes rationalism and functionality in architecture too far. Also, I call bullshit on his explanation for the contradiction of his sterile exteriors yet sumptuous interiors in his 1910 essay entitled "Architecture." You can't proclaim to the world that "Ornament does not heighten my joy in life or the joy in life of any cultivated person" and then lavishly decorate the interior of your home like you're fucking George IV. Just saying.
(Sorry about the vulgarities. I just spent two days reading anything I could find on this mofo for a research paper and I am just so done.)
(Sorry about the vulgarities. I just spent two days reading anything I could find on this mofo for a research paper and I am just so done.)
April 27, 2017
I like ornament you silly racist.
April 25, 2016
"Ornament is wasted manpower and therefore wasted health. It has always been like this. But today it also means wasted material, and both mean wasted capital. As ornament is no longer organically related to our culture, it is also no longer the expression of our culture. The ornament that is produced today bears no relation to us, or to any other human or the world at large. It has no potential for development."
January 28, 2018
Adolf Loos – er lebte und kreierte als Architekt nicht nur in einer Zeit, in der man mit dem Bau von Gebäuden noch waschechte Skandale entstehen lassen konnte, er war auch ein extremer Kritiker. Nicht nur stellte er sich gegen die Oberschichten und die Gebaren der Aristokratie, er sah sich selber auch an der Spitze der Wiener Bau- und Designkunst. "Ornament und Verbrechen" ist eine Sammlung seiner besten und angriffigsten Texten, ursprünglich zwischen 1898 und 1931 publiziert und bietet einen guten Einblick in das Leben und Denken von Loos.
Leider tue ich mir bei der Person selbst sehr schwer. Auf der einen Seite gibt es viele Aussagen und Punkte, bei denen ich mit Adolf Loos gleich ziehe. Besonders bei seinen Ausführungen gegen die unnötigen Ornamente, dem Schmuck und Kitsch – oder bei seinen Vergleichen der Architektur mit deren Pflichten und Inhalte. Andererseits war der Mann aber auch ein Extrem, das sich selber nicht unter Kontrolle hatte. Somit trieb er sein eigenes Handeln oft viel zu weit, zerstörte seine Aussagen durch seine wahnsinnige Art und eckte nur noch an.
Nicht zu vergessen: Der Mann war pädophil und wurde in drei Fällen verurteilt. Dies trübt natürlich nicht nur den Lesegenuss, sondern auch den Umgang mit der Person. Wieso wird dies nicht öfters diskutiert? Wieso vergöttert man einen solchen Verbrecher immer noch als Retter der Moderne? Mehr Kritik sei hier also gewünscht – und somit landen wir im Kern praktisch wieder bei der ursprünglichen Lage Loos'.
Leider tue ich mir bei der Person selbst sehr schwer. Auf der einen Seite gibt es viele Aussagen und Punkte, bei denen ich mit Adolf Loos gleich ziehe. Besonders bei seinen Ausführungen gegen die unnötigen Ornamente, dem Schmuck und Kitsch – oder bei seinen Vergleichen der Architektur mit deren Pflichten und Inhalte. Andererseits war der Mann aber auch ein Extrem, das sich selber nicht unter Kontrolle hatte. Somit trieb er sein eigenes Handeln oft viel zu weit, zerstörte seine Aussagen durch seine wahnsinnige Art und eckte nur noch an.
Nicht zu vergessen: Der Mann war pädophil und wurde in drei Fällen verurteilt. Dies trübt natürlich nicht nur den Lesegenuss, sondern auch den Umgang mit der Person. Wieso wird dies nicht öfters diskutiert? Wieso vergöttert man einen solchen Verbrecher immer noch als Retter der Moderne? Mehr Kritik sei hier also gewünscht – und somit landen wir im Kern praktisch wieder bei der ursprünglichen Lage Loos'.
January 13, 2020
I don't understand why Masheck spent a good chunk of his epilogue, which in turn is a good chunk of the book (equivalent to several of Loos's actual essays), defending Loos as Not-A-Racist, instead of simply acknowledging that some of his views on race and evolutionary development are dated and did not age well.
March 26, 2024
4 aggravating but important stars. To be clear I ONLY read (re-read actually) the essay Ornament and Crime, 1908. As an artist/designer I think it’s ESSENTIAL to read this (horrible? Senseless? Terrible? - none of those seem to suffice) essay - know thy enemy and all that. Important to know that there still are droves of people out there that believe ornamentation to be a sign of low-morals and degenerate society (sign me up right?!) Loos puts into words what founded much of the official modern movement after WWII. Also good bedtime reading - puts ya right to 😴.
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October 13, 2024If you visit Vienna, then the probability is that you've gone to see buildings like Otto Wagner's Jungendstil designs or Olbrich's Secession building. But if you walk to Michaelerplatz, then you're confronted by a historical inflection point, cast in stone. On one side is the dome of the Baroque royal palace. On the other is the Looshaus, an austere building that presaged the work of Corbusier and Mies Van Der Rohe. And, to return to my starting point, these essays reflect the world view of its creator, Adolf Loos.
To start with the more positive aspects of these essays, Loos sees the extravagant nature of women's clothing as an obstacle towards greater equality: "(W)e are approaching a new and greater time. Women’s equality with men is prompted no longer through an appeal to sensuality, but rather through the economic and intellectual independence of women as achieved by work. Women’s value or lack of it will not rise and fall with changes in sensuality. Then velvet and silk, flowers and ribbons, feathers and paints will lose their effect. They will disappear." This is both a laudable sentiment and a good description of what subsequently happened as women's clothing became less ornamental and more designed for practical use. In fact, Loos does see the removal of decoration as progressive force: "Today the worker and the English king, from the stylistic point of view, wear fundamentally the same clothes. Our presidents and monarchs in the twentieth century do not have the slightest need for mummery with crowns and ermine cloaks." We might also note that Loos was adamantly opposed to the distinction between architecture as a form of knowledge work and crafts as a form of manual labour, seeing the two as essentially coterminous; "Until recently we were living in a curious time, which saw the brain-worker as everything and the hand-worker as nothing. In social terms, the man in the blue apron, however proficient he might have been, was far below the ill-paid little clerk in the office... The English efficiently swept away the notion of the inferiority of craft. If you want to make a pot, don’t design some notional geometrical figure, but sit down at the potter’s wheel yourself. If you want to make a chair, don’t spend ages doing sketches all over the place, but pick up your chisel." Similarly, a lot of emphasis on fidelity to materials recalls the sort of things William Morris would say: although Loos never cites Morris directly there's a marked strain of Anglophilia throughout the essays. Occasionally, when Loos is advancing the view that traditional peasant design was preferrable to rarified aristocratic tastes, his tone is stridently leftist: "(T)he peasant lost his independence. He became a bondservant. And bondservant he had to remain, he and his children’s children. Why should he make an effort to rise above his surroundings by changing his outfit, by introducing a change to his clothing? There was no point. The peasant class became a caste, and the peasant was cut off from any chance of escaping that caste."
And with that, we can't really delay coming to the negative aspects, which are remorseless and insistent. The subject matter covered here is quite staggering: painting, furniture, suits, porcelain, underwear, glass, hats, architecture, dresses, music, shoes and so on and so forth. If there is something available to dislike then Loos will readily do so. As far as furniture is concerned, Loos is scornful of middles class homes getting above their station, as he sees it, with the same sort of furniture found in aristocratic villas. The ornate facades on Vienna's Ringstrasse are described as Potemkin buildings, occupied by parvenus trying to assert an aristocratic status they lack, something he sees as ridiculous and immoral: "As a genuine parvenu he thought everyone else had failed to notice the deception. The parvenu always believes that. He confidently believes that the false shirt-front, the fake fur, all the imitated things he surrounds himself with completely fulfil their purpose. All those who stand above him, those who have already gone beyond this parvenu stage, meaning those who know, smile at his pointless efforts. And over time even the parvenu’s eyes are opened. At his friends’ homes he sees one thing after another he had previously thought was authentic." There's a persistent view that decoration is immoral: that surfaces painted to look like hard wood or with gilding applied are a deceit: "Poverty is not a disgrace. Not everyone can be born into a feudal manor house. But to pretend such a thing to one’s fellow men is ridiculous, immoral. So let us not be ashamed of the fact that we live in a house with many others who are socially our equals." As far as fashion is concerned, Loos is contemptuous of dandies with flamboyant clothing, noting disapprovingly that "No nation has so many fops as Germany. A fop is a person who uses clothes only to stand out against his surroundings... No fop can admit to being one. One fop makes fun of the other, and on the pretext of eradicating fophood, they constantly commit new acts of foppery."
Loos does advance practical arguments against decoration (cost, efficiency, waste of materials: time is money as he says) but, on the whole, the sense you get is that he was primarily driven by a sense of disgust and one he frequently, and bizarrely, chooses to express in openly racist terms: "The Papuan slaughters his enemies and devours them. He is not a criminal. But if modern man slaughters and devours someone, he is a criminal or a degenerate. The Papuan tattoos his skin, his boat, his rudder, in short everything that lies to hand. There are prisons in which 80 per cent of the inmates have tattoos. The tattooed people who are not in jail are latent criminals or degenerate aristocrats. The urge to ornament one’s face and everything that lies to hand are the primal origins of visual art." Moving from an excess of decorative elements on the Ringstrasse to tattoos is quite the leap but Loos clearly had a particular fixation with the origin of tattoos in cultures like the Maori, which the afterword connects to Cesare Lombroso's notion of criminal atavism, a eugenicist approach to criminology. Extreme as this now seems, we should also note that the use of terms like 'degeneracy' take on a particularly sinister connotation in retrospect.
To start with the more positive aspects of these essays, Loos sees the extravagant nature of women's clothing as an obstacle towards greater equality: "(W)e are approaching a new and greater time. Women’s equality with men is prompted no longer through an appeal to sensuality, but rather through the economic and intellectual independence of women as achieved by work. Women’s value or lack of it will not rise and fall with changes in sensuality. Then velvet and silk, flowers and ribbons, feathers and paints will lose their effect. They will disappear." This is both a laudable sentiment and a good description of what subsequently happened as women's clothing became less ornamental and more designed for practical use. In fact, Loos does see the removal of decoration as progressive force: "Today the worker and the English king, from the stylistic point of view, wear fundamentally the same clothes. Our presidents and monarchs in the twentieth century do not have the slightest need for mummery with crowns and ermine cloaks." We might also note that Loos was adamantly opposed to the distinction between architecture as a form of knowledge work and crafts as a form of manual labour, seeing the two as essentially coterminous; "Until recently we were living in a curious time, which saw the brain-worker as everything and the hand-worker as nothing. In social terms, the man in the blue apron, however proficient he might have been, was far below the ill-paid little clerk in the office... The English efficiently swept away the notion of the inferiority of craft. If you want to make a pot, don’t design some notional geometrical figure, but sit down at the potter’s wheel yourself. If you want to make a chair, don’t spend ages doing sketches all over the place, but pick up your chisel." Similarly, a lot of emphasis on fidelity to materials recalls the sort of things William Morris would say: although Loos never cites Morris directly there's a marked strain of Anglophilia throughout the essays. Occasionally, when Loos is advancing the view that traditional peasant design was preferrable to rarified aristocratic tastes, his tone is stridently leftist: "(T)he peasant lost his independence. He became a bondservant. And bondservant he had to remain, he and his children’s children. Why should he make an effort to rise above his surroundings by changing his outfit, by introducing a change to his clothing? There was no point. The peasant class became a caste, and the peasant was cut off from any chance of escaping that caste."
And with that, we can't really delay coming to the negative aspects, which are remorseless and insistent. The subject matter covered here is quite staggering: painting, furniture, suits, porcelain, underwear, glass, hats, architecture, dresses, music, shoes and so on and so forth. If there is something available to dislike then Loos will readily do so. As far as furniture is concerned, Loos is scornful of middles class homes getting above their station, as he sees it, with the same sort of furniture found in aristocratic villas. The ornate facades on Vienna's Ringstrasse are described as Potemkin buildings, occupied by parvenus trying to assert an aristocratic status they lack, something he sees as ridiculous and immoral: "As a genuine parvenu he thought everyone else had failed to notice the deception. The parvenu always believes that. He confidently believes that the false shirt-front, the fake fur, all the imitated things he surrounds himself with completely fulfil their purpose. All those who stand above him, those who have already gone beyond this parvenu stage, meaning those who know, smile at his pointless efforts. And over time even the parvenu’s eyes are opened. At his friends’ homes he sees one thing after another he had previously thought was authentic." There's a persistent view that decoration is immoral: that surfaces painted to look like hard wood or with gilding applied are a deceit: "Poverty is not a disgrace. Not everyone can be born into a feudal manor house. But to pretend such a thing to one’s fellow men is ridiculous, immoral. So let us not be ashamed of the fact that we live in a house with many others who are socially our equals." As far as fashion is concerned, Loos is contemptuous of dandies with flamboyant clothing, noting disapprovingly that "No nation has so many fops as Germany. A fop is a person who uses clothes only to stand out against his surroundings... No fop can admit to being one. One fop makes fun of the other, and on the pretext of eradicating fophood, they constantly commit new acts of foppery."
Loos does advance practical arguments against decoration (cost, efficiency, waste of materials: time is money as he says) but, on the whole, the sense you get is that he was primarily driven by a sense of disgust and one he frequently, and bizarrely, chooses to express in openly racist terms: "The Papuan slaughters his enemies and devours them. He is not a criminal. But if modern man slaughters and devours someone, he is a criminal or a degenerate. The Papuan tattoos his skin, his boat, his rudder, in short everything that lies to hand. There are prisons in which 80 per cent of the inmates have tattoos. The tattooed people who are not in jail are latent criminals or degenerate aristocrats. The urge to ornament one’s face and everything that lies to hand are the primal origins of visual art." Moving from an excess of decorative elements on the Ringstrasse to tattoos is quite the leap but Loos clearly had a particular fixation with the origin of tattoos in cultures like the Maori, which the afterword connects to Cesare Lombroso's notion of criminal atavism, a eugenicist approach to criminology. Extreme as this now seems, we should also note that the use of terms like 'degeneracy' take on a particularly sinister connotation in retrospect.
May 11, 2021
adolf loos is a racist.
March 26, 2023
What is this guys problem with Chinese people?
March 6, 2021
A collection of essays that are humourous, sarcastic and over the top on the aesthetic value of things around us (mostly fashion). These should be regarded as a product of its times, with outdated beliefs such (Darwinian) cultural evolution and gendered roles in the household. He appears to be speaking to a class of aristocrats, in highly curated museum shows, himself a renowned architect of the times - so do take note on the warped perspective this text do reflect. I first read the “keynote” Ornament and Crime in a design history class, and I must admit the second time didn’t give me a much deeper understanding (neither did the critique at the end of this book) beyond his points around authenticity to the materials and prioritizing function over form. I would recommend the following essays should you want to be selective: Ladies’ Fashion, The Principles of Cladding, Chairs, Ornament and Crime, and On Thrift.
September 26, 2022
There is an undeniable sense of humour and irony at work in this collection of essays from the famed Viennese architect. His observations about everything from underwear to furniture, and shoes to thiftiness, are shot throough with both wit and delivered with a withering eye. However, aside from the sharpness of tone and often ruthless proclamations, Loos' essays crystallise a moment of emerging modernity. His world view is fascinating, even if it does sometimes confront the social orthodoxies of readers a century down the track. For those with a penchant for architecture and aesthetics, 'Ornament & Crime' is a fascinating dive into both the commercial and 'artistic' dimensions of everyday objects and the visual-industrial culture more generally. In a way this collection is also a kind of accidental social history - and therefore, well worth the effort.
December 24, 2023
I’ve finished it, hallelujah it’s a Christmas Miracle!
Brb, me and Eli are going to draw some ornaments on Adolf Loos grave ✌️
Brb, me and Eli are going to draw some ornaments on Adolf Loos grave ✌️
November 23, 2025
I picked up this book entirely based on the title (and low price) thinking it was about something not even close to what it was (I think it was put in the wrong section). But I thought it was interesting. My favourite essays were “Footwear” and “Ornament and Crime”.
Footwear was interesting because he talks about how as walking speeds in cities have increased, men’s dress shoes have adapted in shape, becoming longer and slimmer to allow the front of the foot to exert more force when walking quickly. There were some interesting statistics about average walking speeds over time and between countries. Anyone who knows me knows that’s a topic I’m interested in!
The titular essay was good, it’s about the intuitive fact that excessive ornamentation actually tends to indicate lower quality and consumer taste level, since part of the price is going towards that ornamentation. He favours well-made simple designs. Nothing groundbreaking there but nice to see that’s an enduring concept.
I don’t know that I would recommend this book, since it’s not really my area. People who are into fashion, interior design, and visual arts would like this probably. I did like the architecture discussions.
For anyone who will read it, there is some racism in there that made me cringe when I read it, but which isn’t *too* shocking for the time period.
Footwear was interesting because he talks about how as walking speeds in cities have increased, men’s dress shoes have adapted in shape, becoming longer and slimmer to allow the front of the foot to exert more force when walking quickly. There were some interesting statistics about average walking speeds over time and between countries. Anyone who knows me knows that’s a topic I’m interested in!
The titular essay was good, it’s about the intuitive fact that excessive ornamentation actually tends to indicate lower quality and consumer taste level, since part of the price is going towards that ornamentation. He favours well-made simple designs. Nothing groundbreaking there but nice to see that’s an enduring concept.
I don’t know that I would recommend this book, since it’s not really my area. People who are into fashion, interior design, and visual arts would like this probably. I did like the architecture discussions.
For anyone who will read it, there is some racism in there that made me cringe when I read it, but which isn’t *too* shocking for the time period.
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January 31, 2025Maybe if you need a 40p afterword to explain what author actually wanted to say cause it’s hard to get through his bigotry you shouldn’t really call his essays effervescent and full of wit.
And explaining how he meant that art only should be in galleries while completely removed from day to day objects which should serve only functional purposes is elitist and lowkey fascist so I wouldn’t use it in explanation either.
And explaining how he meant that art only should be in galleries while completely removed from day to day objects which should serve only functional purposes is elitist and lowkey fascist so I wouldn’t use it in explanation either.
August 14, 2024
What a fascinating figure. I'm in the middle of studying up on Loos. I'll write more about him later.
November 21, 2025
Har en känsla av att Norra tornen hade fått Loos att göra några drastiska förändringar i denna plattitydtunga essäsamling. Men vad vet jag. Agree to disagree?
May 20, 2023
Je vous conseil de le lire si vous souhaitez vous énerver tout seul dans votre chambre à 1h du matin. Je mets tout de même 4 étoiles car ça m'a beaucoup aidé pour mon grand Oral!
February 1, 2023
ima point al neke pointove iz guzice vadi
January 25, 2022
this was SOO good and yet i disagree with almost everything in it. gonna fit so well in my dissertation
October 19, 2023
Komplexné, trefné a skvelo napísané. Čo viac by som si mohla priať? (pokračovanie, maybe?)
December 20, 2024
I have so many things I could say about this paper but I'll leave it at just "please just live your life and enjoy fun art"
August 9, 2025
Para ser 1908, agradezco que alguien sea tan radical, lo fue tanto que este estilo sigue vivo. LASTIMA CON EL RACISMO DEL AUTOR.
November 26, 2023
1 "haarav" järeldus Loosi põhimõtete põhjal: kõik meie mõistes kaasaja (modernsed) inimesed on Loosi meelest kurjategijad või allakäinud, sest enese ükskõik, millise kehaosa või näo tätoveerimine on üpriski tavaline nähtus praegusajal.
*“The Papuan tattoos his skin, his boat, his oar, in short, everything that is within his reach. He is no criminal. The modern man who tattoos himself is a criminal or a degenerate. There are prisons where eighty percent of the inmates bear tattoos. Those who are tattooed but are not imprisoned are latent criminals or degenerate aristocrats. if a tattooed person dies at liberty, it is only that he died a few years before he committed a murder.”*
Minu jaoks propageerib see mees enda esseedes liialt paigalseisu ning liiga otseselt vana juurde tagasi pöördumist aka hästi konservatiivsed vaated, küll aga intrigeerib mind mõte, et hea arhitektuur on selline, mida saab ainult kirjutades teistele selgeks teha.
Kui ma suudaks dešifreerida, millal Loos siiralt ja millal irooniliselt enda ideid kirjas edasi annab, siis teaksin, millal naerda selle asemel, et kulm kortsus lugeda & iga hetk raamatut pooleli jätmist kaaluda.
*“The Papuan tattoos his skin, his boat, his oar, in short, everything that is within his reach. He is no criminal. The modern man who tattoos himself is a criminal or a degenerate. There are prisons where eighty percent of the inmates bear tattoos. Those who are tattooed but are not imprisoned are latent criminals or degenerate aristocrats. if a tattooed person dies at liberty, it is only that he died a few years before he committed a murder.”*
Minu jaoks propageerib see mees enda esseedes liialt paigalseisu ning liiga otseselt vana juurde tagasi pöördumist aka hästi konservatiivsed vaated, küll aga intrigeerib mind mõte, et hea arhitektuur on selline, mida saab ainult kirjutades teistele selgeks teha.
Kui ma suudaks dešifreerida, millal Loos siiralt ja millal irooniliselt enda ideid kirjas edasi annab, siis teaksin, millal naerda selle asemel, et kulm kortsus lugeda & iga hetk raamatut pooleli jätmist kaaluda.
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January 4, 2021Loos was a funny and sarcastic old man.
Nije mu bilo lako na samom početku 20. stoljeća gledati u tolike ukrase i boriti se s ornamentalnim vjetrenjačama.
Eseji donose uvid u razdoblje kada se opće prihvaćeni modernizam tek nazirao, doba kada su ostaci nekadašnjih života još držali prevlast, mada je novo doba već stiglo. Bečom tako šeću gospoda u ručno izrađenim cipelama, naručuju izrezbarene ormare, ukrašavaju keramiku, a Adolf to ne može podnijeti. Pita se: Čemu toliko traćenja vremena (a time i novca) na nepotrebne ukrase? Nismo li kao društvo napredovali dovoljno da se ne moramo okružiti takvim trivijalnostima? Jer umjetnost je čista umjetnost, njoj ne treba primjena i upotreba, dok su uporabni predmeti ti kojima treba vladati funkcionalnost.
Nije mu bilo lako na samom početku 20. stoljeća gledati u tolike ukrase i boriti se s ornamentalnim vjetrenjačama.
Eseji donose uvid u razdoblje kada se opće prihvaćeni modernizam tek nazirao, doba kada su ostaci nekadašnjih života još držali prevlast, mada je novo doba već stiglo. Bečom tako šeću gospoda u ručno izrađenim cipelama, naručuju izrezbarene ormare, ukrašavaju keramiku, a Adolf to ne može podnijeti. Pita se: Čemu toliko traćenja vremena (a time i novca) na nepotrebne ukrase? Nismo li kao društvo napredovali dovoljno da se ne moramo okružiti takvim trivijalnostima? Jer umjetnost je čista umjetnost, njoj ne treba primjena i upotreba, dok su uporabni predmeti ti kojima treba vladati funkcionalnost.
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March 21, 2025
me lo acabé en un día pero bueno, lo reseñó ahora (?)
darle cuatro estrellas a esto se siente como darle cinco estrellas al mein kampf por la impresión que te da, lo cual no se como me deja moralmente pero bueno. que algo sea revolucionario no creo que quiera decir que “sea bueno” explícitamente, pero este ensayo es una de las obras que me ha dejado más impresionada en lo que llevo de carrera, ¡y mira que es cortito comparado con las demás!
hay puntos sobre la arquitectura que me han parecido interesantes pero creo que estos son opacados por el racismo, clasismo y capitalismo desvergonzado, no sé…
pd: me gustaría poder haberle preguntado ciertos puntos en persona pero creo que me quedaré más tranquila con la duda kskakw
darle cuatro estrellas a esto se siente como darle cinco estrellas al mein kampf por la impresión que te da, lo cual no se como me deja moralmente pero bueno. que algo sea revolucionario no creo que quiera decir que “sea bueno” explícitamente, pero este ensayo es una de las obras que me ha dejado más impresionada en lo que llevo de carrera, ¡y mira que es cortito comparado con las demás!
hay puntos sobre la arquitectura que me han parecido interesantes pero creo que estos son opacados por el racismo, clasismo y capitalismo desvergonzado, no sé…
pd: me gustaría poder haberle preguntado ciertos puntos en persona pero creo que me quedaré más tranquila con la duda kskakw
January 15, 2026
Ornament and Crime is problematic on so many levels it's actually impressive. The only reason it's getting two stars is because Loos is so skilled at being a melodramatic whiner. His prose is satisfying to read, so that redeems it somewhat.
The essay just did not stand the test of time. I like ornament and superficialities, and they're altogether lacking in our modern world of glass boxes. I'm inclined to believe Loos hated ornament simply because it was mainstream and he felt quite superior while playing contrarian.
The essay just did not stand the test of time. I like ornament and superficialities, and they're altogether lacking in our modern world of glass boxes. I'm inclined to believe Loos hated ornament simply because it was mainstream and he felt quite superior while playing contrarian.
April 9, 2020
A collection of essays on art and architecture which redeemed for me by the caustic wit of the writer. There is a touch of Nietszche and a little Karl Kraus in these essays. I was particularly taken with his comments about tattoos and tattooing, since when I was young, only criminals and sailors sported tattoos.
This is an enjoyable collection, I thoroughly enjoyed Joseph Mashek's epilogue, the notes are detailed, and there is a useful bibliography. A worthy effort.
This is an enjoyable collection, I thoroughly enjoyed Joseph Mashek's epilogue, the notes are detailed, and there is a useful bibliography. A worthy effort.
December 20, 2024
Al principio le coges un poco de tirria por que parece muy extremista con su opinion, pero al final le acabas cogiendo cariño al autor, me ha gustado mucho ver su punto de vista, trata muchos conceptos de la ornamentacion distintos, y te muestra una realidad que poca gente se atreve ha hablar, no me lo volvería a leer pero considero que es un punto clave en el aprendizaje de la arquitectura y sobre otros artes, muy buena lectura.
December 18, 2024
Adolf Loos's "Ornament und Verbrechen" harshly criticizes decoration, arguing that it’s useless and outdated, but this extreme view makes his ideas feel cold and unrelatable. While it had a big influence on modern architecture, it also helped make buildings boring and lifeless, taking away their character and connection to people.
September 27, 2025
dense read but i agree with the overall theory. isn't all architecture superficial though? isn't all architecture representative of some idea/artistic direction? ornaments are an embellishment but historically fundamental. today architects get renowned artists for input - is this the modern day ornament? needed theory by loos
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